MSG HD is a high definition simulcast of programs from MSG Network, including home games of the Knicks, Liberty, and NHL teams, plus most away games, as well as SEC football and UEFA Champions League soccer. Red Bulls home games and college football or basketball games produced by FSN may also sometimes be in HD. MSG HD can be seen on DirecTV, Cablevision, Time Warner Cable, Comcast, RCN, AT&T U-verse, and Verizon FiOS TV.
Since January 22, 2009, the NHL and MSG have been involved in a contract dispute which has resulted in MSG HD and MSG+ HD broadcasts being pulled from NHL's GameCenter Live for viewers outside of the local markets for the New Jersey Devils, New York Rangers, New York Islanders, and Buffalo Sabres. The HD picture is replaced with stretched SD. As of March 17, 2010 beginning with the game between the New Jersey Devils and Pittsburgh Penguins, MSG HD and MSG+ HD has returned to NHL Center Ice as confirmed by Gary Bettman during the NHL Hour broadcast.
Since its creation, MSG HD had never been offered to Verizon or AT&T on any terms due to the "terrestrial loophole" which essentially gave the ability to channels not delivered by satellite to pick and choose who could have access to its programming. Because MSG was once owned by Cablevision (and remains under common control to date), MSG fought every attempt by the telcos to gain access despite the significant rights fees it could collect from them. On September 22, 2011, the FCC ordered MSG to negotiate with both Verizon and AT&T for carriage on each system. MSG and Cablevision used every available appeal to keep the HD channels from both distributors, but on December 14, 2011 a three-judge panel of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals denied Cablevision/MSG Holdings' petition for review. Verizon FiOS launched MSG HD and MSG+ HD on its New York area systems the next day, and AT&T U-Verse launched the channels in Connecticut later that month.
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